Process of manufacturing printed rugs.



G. PRIFOLD.

PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING PRINTED RUGS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. I8. 1916.

Patented July 23, 1918.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII UNITED STATES PATEN OFFICE.

GEORGE PRIFOLD, 0F LINWOOD, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE CONGOLEUM COM- PANY, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING PRINTED BUGS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 23, 1918.

Application filed February 18, 1. 116. Serial No. 79,168.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE PRIFOLD, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Linwood, county of Delaware, State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain Improvements in Processes of Manufacturing Printed Rugs, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to certain improve ments in the process of making a rug of the type having a felt base and a printed pigment surface which is used as a floor covering.

A rug ofthis type is preferably made in a continuous strip of material and having printed thereon individual rug patterns and the strip after being printed is out into individual rugs.

The method of making this rug in strip form is fully set forth and claimed in an application for patent filed by Frank E. Foster, even date herewith.

One object of my invention is to improve the manufacture of floor covering having a felted material as a base.

A further object of the invention is to improve the manufacture of the particular type of rug set forth in the above mentioned application so as to provide a better wearing surface and to give the body of the rug the flexibility so much desired in material of this character.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a rug made in accordance .with my invention;

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic perspective view showing several layers of the rug cut away to illustrate different steps in the process of manufacture;

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic plan view showing the strip of material havin a series of designs printed thereon to in icate. independent rugs; and

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the method of manufacturing a rug by my improved process.

A typical example of carrying out my improved process of manufacturing the floor covering is as follows:

I first make a bod of dry felt, preferably from cotton rags, a though it may be made from cotton waste, or other suitable mate--- rial, but I find that I attain a better saturation ofthe waterproofing material by the use of cotton rags. I saturate the felt with;

a substance which will thoroughly impregnate it, inakin it proof against moisture and pliable. T 1e substance I prefer to use is a semi-solid bituminous material which, in this instance, consists of petroleum flux oil and a residual pitch derived from asphaltic, or semi-asphaltic, base oils, but other hydro-carbons may be used without departing from the spirit of the invention. The material is brought to a temperature of about 500 degrees F. and is then placed in a saturating kettle of such a size and form as to a low the felt to be passed through it at a given speed, the material in the kettle having a temperature of about 325 degrees F. during the saturatin process, and as the dry felt is passed tirough the liquid, it will thoroughly impregnate the body of felt, making it pliable so that, when the rug is finished and placed upon a floor, it will lie flat. This saturation also makes the felt waterproof and vermin proof.

The material is allowed to cool to a certain degree but while still warm that surface of the felt which is to form the back of a rug is coated with a composition 3, preferably consistin of alcohol, shellac, or

.any other gum solub e in alcohol, and a pigment. The coated surface is then passed over a hot roller to vaporize the alcohol, after which it is subjected to an air blast so as to set and dry the coating and season the felt. After the back coating is dry, then the face of the felt is first coated with a composition 4, preferably of alcohol, shellac and a pi ment, the same as the back, and this coatln is followed by one or more coats 5 and linseed oil,adrier, and apigment, which gives the surface a proper body to receive the design 7. After the surface is dry, the material is in condition to be passed thro h a block printing machine, such as set orth in Letters Patent, No. 1,145,821, granted to WVilliam Waldron on the sixth day of July, 1915.

The felt is fed through the printing machine in a long strip, Fig. 4, and-the various portions of the rug pattern, of any length desired, are successively printed upon it in appropriate colors. on individual rug patterns are being printed the patterns are printed both sucesslvely and simultaneously, since, while one set of blocks is printing the border, or other portions of the pattern, other sets of blocks are printticular design tobe printed.

In printing rug designs by a machine, such as that hereinbefore mentioned, particularly long rugs, the blocks, which are used in printing the body of the rug, make a greater number of impressions than those printing the borders. In an ordinary type of block printing machine, the paint carriages are reciprocated under the printing blocks so as to coat the printing surfaces of each block with a given quantity of paint so that when a block makes an impression the paint will be transferred to the material. In the ordinary block printing machine all of the block carriers make the same number of impressions, consequently, the paint composition in each of the paint carriages is of the same consistency, but where a block is held out of action for a given length of time while others are print-- ing, the tendency of the paint on that particular block is to stiffen so that when the next impression is made there will be a marked contrast between the impression made by the block that is held out of action and the impressions made by the other blocks, which practically makes a rug unsalable.

I have found that by making the paint compound in the carriage which supplies paint to the block making a fewer number of impressions more fluid than the paint of the other carriages, that when the block receives the paint from the carriage the printing surface is not overcharged, and, consequently, when an impression is made it is the same as the impressions made by the other blocks, giving an uninterrupted tone to 1the entire printed surface of the materia After the printing operation is completed, the material is dried in a suitably designed drier and is finally cut into rugs, which are then ready for the market.

A rug made in accordance with this in-' gevity. It is also vermin-proof and cheaper than oilcloth in which a woven burlap is used as a base.

WVlnle my invention is used 1n connection with printed rugs, it will be understood that the process may be used in manufacturing printed fioor coverings of any design having a felt base.

I claim The process herein described of making a Waterproof floor covering, said process consisting in first making a dry felt, saturating the felt with a semi-solid bituminous material consisting of petroleum flux oil and a residual pitch while the material is at a temperature of about 325 degrees F then, while the material is still hot, applying a coat-ing at the back thereof consisting of a composition of a vehicle'and a pigment, passing the material over a heated surface to evaporate the solvent portion of the vehicle, subjecting the material to a cold blast of air to set and dry the backing and to season the felt, coating'the other surface with a composition of a vehicle and a pigment, applying a second coating of a vehicle, a pigment, and a drier so as to provide a printing surface, then printing a design in colors on the prepared surface, and allowing the material to dry.

GEORGE PRIFOLD. 

